Those that shall be found alive will then be changed. They shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, 1 Thessalonians 4:17. At, or immediately before, this rapture into the clouds, those who are alive will undergo a mighty change, which will be equivalent to dying. This change is so mysterious that we cannot comprehend it: we know little or nothing of it, 1 Corinthians 15:51. Only, in the general, this mortal must put on immortality, and these bodies will be made fit to inherit the kingdom of God, which flesh and blood in its present state are not capable of.
From Henry on 1 Cor 15:51 – “Those that are alive at our Lord's coming will be caught up into the clouds, without dying,
Caught Up – Greek “Harpazo” – Latin “Rapiemur” - English “Rapture”
John Gill (1697 – 1771…again long before 1909) on 1 thess 4:17:
” suddenly, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and with force and power; by the power of Christ, and by the ministry and means of the holy angels; and to which rapture will contribute, the agility which the bodies both of the raised and changed saints will have: and this rapture of the living saints will be…
I wonder if the scholar you quoted bothered to actually do any research…or if he just did a lot of copy/pasting…ANYWAY…back to your last post…
Oh...I understand the verse...and my replies to previous posts to other Freepers shows that I understand it. You also know I understand it...
And the fact you won't answer a simple yes or no question shows you've boxed yourself into a corner...and I think you know it. ;-) You can’t say “YES”…because then you have to admit the “RAPTURE” is taught (regardless of timing…or the NAME as the “rapture” is simply the teaching that there is a translation and changing of the mortal believer into that which is immortal and able to inherit Heaven)…and you have to admit the article and your views are a little faulty because you got hung up on a word and confused a word with a teaching. The real debate is the timing. Of course…you can’t say “NO” because then you deny the Word of God…
See, you believe the Word of God. I believe you do. However, you stepped out in a little bit of ignorance. Now...you've stepped IN it. And rather than admit it...you won't answer...and you KNOW that is what you are doing. But...even if you still won't admit it...let me prove it again.
You posted an article that basically says the "rapture" is "man made" from the Scofield notes in 1909. Perhaps the term "rapture" didn't come into wide usage until then...but it is slander against Scofield to say it wasn't taught before then. Again...WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A WORD AND A CONCEPT.
The article gets into much detail about "harpazo" and its usage as "rapture." Well...Philip was snatched away...and so was Paul. In 1 Cor 15 and 1 thess 4...Living Christians will be snatched away. The difference between them and Philip or Paul is they will be CHANGED at THEIR snatching away...and their mortality will put on immortality. Context makes that clear.
The concept of the rapture was taught LONG before Scofield put the WORD to it...and again...the word is just a transliteration from the Latin...which is no different than you calling our Savior JESUS instead of Yeshua or Iesu!
Again...regardless of whether or not you AGREE with it...the CONCEPT wasn't invented in 1909. Your scholar doesn’t know what he is talking about and it’s a hit piece that is long on opinion and short on research. Perhaps the term “rapture” didn’t become POPULAR until then…but as I PROVED, it was used…IN SPEAKING OF 1 Thess 4… at least 200 years before 1909 by Henry and Gill (and others). The concept, whether you agree or not, was taught long before that:
Victorinus…3rd Century: “"And the heaven withdrew as a scroll that is rolled up." For the heaven to be rolled away, that is, that the Church shall be taken away.”
Ephraem of Nisibis (306-373): “Because all saints and the Elect of the Lord are gathered together before the tribulation which is to about to come and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins.”
Increase Mather (1639-1723): “"that the saints would be caught up into the air beforehand, thereby escaping the final conflagration."
Peter Jurieu (1687): “Peter Jurie in his book "Approaching Deliverance of the Church " (1687) taught that Christ would come in the air to rapture the saints and return to heaven before the battle of Armageddon.He spoke of a secret Rapture prior to His coming in glory and judgment at Armageddon.”
So…the concept of a rapture was taught long before 1909. The WORD rapture was used…IN ENGLISH…long before 1909. The timing of the “trumpet sound” can certainly be of open debate. HOWEVER…there can be NO DEBATE that there is a rapture. Again…rapture is just an English word that is Anglicanized from the Latin. JUST LIKE THE NAME JESUS! So…if you have a problem with Rapture…you probably should stop calling on the name of Jesus.
If you believe that living mortal Christians will one day hear the trumpet of God…and that they will be CAUGHT UP into the air alive…their mortal bodies forever changed…putting on immortality…and that they will forever be with the Lord…
THEN YOU BELIEVE IN THE RAPTURE. It doesn’t matter whether or not you believe it happens 7 years prior to Jesus’ coming again…or AT His second coming. If you believe it…then you believe there is a rapture. If you don’t…then you don’t believe the Word of God.
INDEED.
The Dead in Christ Shall Rise First
by Ron Daly
via Guardian of Truth XLI: 4 p. 10-11, February 20, 1997
Paul wrote in his first letter to the Thessalonians, that when the Lord descends from heaven, “the dead in Christ will rise first” (I Thessalonians 4:16).
Apparently, Paul had reason to be concerned that some of the Christians in Thessalonica were uninformed regarding the status of fellow-believers who had died. He wrote to them so that they would not grieve. He states that when the Lord descends from heaven the dead saints will not be forgotten, nor left behind. They will rise before the living are caught up to meet the Lord in the air! “For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep” (I Thessalonians 4:15).
The apostle is not affirming any of the doctrinally erroneous presuppositions of the premillennial heresy. His point is not that the dead saints will rise and be caught up in “the rapture,” a contrived theory of premillennialists. Instead, he implicitly indicates that the dead saints will not be abandoned, but they will rise to meet the Lord together with those who remain. The following verbal phrases constitute the immediate context of Paul’s words, in which actions are ascribed to the Lord and his saints: “The Lord himself ... will descend (katabesetai) from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise (anastesontai) first. Then we who are alive, who are left (perileipomenoi), will be caught up (harpagesometha) in the clouds together with them to meet (apantesin) the Lord in the air, and so we will be (esometha) with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage (parakaleite) one another with these words” (vv. 16-17). Notice the word “then” in verse 17. It translates epeita which in the present context is emphatic, and the term means “after that, in the next place.” The Greek-English Lexicon of The New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Bauer, Arndt-Gingrich-Danker, 284, indicates that epeita is used “to denote succession in enumerations, together with indications of chronological sequence.”
Paul’s point seems to be, immediately after the dead saints rise the living saints will join them to meet the Lord in the air.
The text does not teach a partial resurrection, i.e., that some of the dead, those who are in Christ will be raised at the Lord’s coming, but the wicked dead will remain in the graves for several more years. In the I Thessalonians’ text Paul’s primary focus is on “we who are alive” in Christ and “the dead in Christ.” He is not denying a general resurrection of all the dead, he simply discusses one class of dead persons who will rise. This seems to be the category about which the Thessalonians had inquired, or at least were concerned.
Please consider that Paul does not say, “Only the dead in Christ shall rise,” but he says, “The dead in Christ shall rise first.” Let us ask, first in relation to what? The word “first” is a translation of proton, an adverb which in this text means “first of all, first in order.” Before the living ascend to meet the Lord, the dead in Christ will be raised and both groups shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
According to numerous New Testament texts when Jesus comes to judge the world, all the dead will be raised. “Do not be astonished at this: for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out those who have done good, to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28-29). Peter and John caused much annoyance to the priest, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees “because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead” (Acts 4:1-2).
Paul affirmed that he was “on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead” (Acts 23:6). Paul made his defense to Felix the governor, proclaiming “that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous,” and he declared that he was on trial “about the resurrection of the dead” (Acts 24:15,21). The apostle said to the people of Athens that God “has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed . . . they heard of the resurrection of the dead...” (Acts 17:31-32). “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised...” (I Corinthians 15:52).
In his second letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 1:7-9, Paul states that when the Lord is “revealed from heaven” (the equivalent to “the Lord himself will descend from heaven” in the first letter, 4:16) vengeance will be inflicted on the wicked, but he will be glorified in the saints.
Therefore in I Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul is not teaching a partial resurrection of some of the dead, neither is he indicating that there will be multiple resurrections of all the dead. There will be only one literal resurrection of all the dead.